Member of the General Legal Council, Sam Okudzeto, has criticized comments by the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, for his comments on the ongoing trial of Assin North MP-elect, James Gyakye Quayson.

According to him, the Dormaahene, who’s also a sitting High Court Judge, was wrong to have publicly called for the criminal trial to be dropped. He revealed that it was wrong for the Dormahene to make such statements due to the kind of person he is in the judiciary.

“It is wrong, it is repugnant, it is senseless for a sitting high court judge to stand on a public platform and make an utterance of that nature. This is my view.”
Sam Okudzeto

Furthermore, Mr Okudzeto indicated that he would have recommended the High Court judge’s sacking had he been a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Judicial Council.

“If I was sitting in that disciplinary committee of the Judicial Council, I would have asked him to resign or ask him to be sacked as a judge; that’s what I would have done. If he hears this statement, I am the one saying it, I, Sam Okudzeto and I stand by it.”
Sam Okudzeto

Petition for action to be taken against Dormaahene

Also, the former President of the Ghana Bar Association requested that individuals take the matter up by filing a petition to the Judicial Council for the necessary action to be taken on the Judge. He stated that the judiciary council could only act on a petition, adding that this was a way society puts lawyers and judges in check.

“It is always useful when somebody comes, you have to make a complaint. This thing is recorded, and so you send the recording to the Judicial Council, and you tell them that this is what the person has said and we think there is something wrong with it. My view is that the society in Ghana now has become so corrupted to such an extent that any tom, dick and harry gets up and says whatever comes into his head, without appreciating the effect that what he is saying has on the society. This has been worrying me all these years. And I think it’s getting completely out of hand.”
Sam Okudzeto

Meanwhile, a legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu has revealed that there is nothing prejudicial about the comments made by the Dormaahene. He indicated that President Akufo-Addo’s comments on Gyakye Quayson heading for jail can rather be termed as prejudicial.

“My point is that right now, people are not able to talk. People who voted for him, I mean President Akufo-Addo have refused to talk…”
Martin Kpebu

It will be recalled that the traditional leader, who is also the president of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, while speaking at a 10th-anniversary lecture of John Evans Atta Mills in Sunyani appealed to the President to take steps to halt the trial against the MP-elect.

The traditional ruler called on the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame “to as a matter of urgency file a nolle prosequi to end that particular decision”.

The Assin North MP-elect, James Gyakye Quayson is being tried for forgery and perjury after he was charged by the Attorney-General’s Office. He is also accused of deceiving a public officer and knowingly making a false declaration when he filed nominations to contest in the 2020 election when he had not renounced his Canadian citizenship.

However, he has filed a motion on notice at the High Court for a stay of proceedings, pending an appeal. As it stands, he’s expected to be sworn into office again on Tuesday, July 4, after winning the Assin North.